Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Kofi Bentil, says although Mr Martin Amidu re-affirmed his firm anti-graft disposition during last Tuesday’s vetting, his job as Special Prosecutor will not be a walk in the park.
Although Mr Amidu is yet to be officially sworn-in as Special Prosecutor, sources indicated that the legislators on the Appointments Committee overwhelmingly endorsed him during a closed-door meeting after the lengthy vetting.
The sources said, all the Committee members unanimously backed the former Attorney-General’s approval as the first Special Prosecutor.
Deputy Majority Whip, Mathew Nyindam, told Joy journalists that it will be inconceivable for anyone to oppose Mr. Amidu’s nomination.
The lawmaker said Mr Amidu, whose anti-corruption crusade earned him the nickname ‘Citizen Vigilante’ left an indelible impression in the minds of Ghanaians with his answers during the vetting.
Mr Bentil, himself an experienced legal practitioner, believed that Martin Amidu’s no-nonsense posture when he appeared before Parliament’s Appointment Committee to justify his nomination sent the strong message “he will not be a pushover”.
However, decades of failed attempts to tackle corruption head-on will make his job akin to “taming of the dragon,” Mr Betil averred.
“He leaves nobody in doubt that he is fired up for the job but I don’t think that baring his teeth the way he did [Tuesday] is any indication of whether he is going to be successful or not,” he said on Multi TV.
But Mr Bentil was hopeful Mr Amidu will deliver on his mandate when he settles into his office, adding that President Nana Akufo-Addo selected the best person for Special Prosecutor.
commenting on the 9-hour vetting of Mr Amidu, Mr Bentil also said the next big step in the fight against deep-seated corruption in Ghana will be the impending test of Mr Amidu’s resolve when he formally starts his work.
“He will be tested and it will be sooner than later. If he gets the office he will be tested and part of the testing will not be just people who have done things and he has to go after them. It will have to be with what he picks to go after,” he said.
He suggested that for Mr Amidu to make a lasting impact, “he must succeed where other anti-corruption institutions with similar powers like the Special Prosecutors office have been unsuccessful”.
“He is the Special Prosecutor, we are hoping that he will do special cases…we are hoping that the things that others have not been able to do he will do it. It’s belling the cat. It’s like who is going to tame the dragon.
“The things that we have not been able to do with existing institutions we are hoping he will deal with [them]. So how he handles it will really show what he is made of,” Mr Bentil said.
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